Parallel Zombies Review

I will never tire of zombie titles. There is something to be said for annihilating flesh eaters, and in handheld gaming, ’tis the season. The influx of games in this genre means that the ones worth playing tend to be really, really good to make the cut. Perblue, with its Parallel Zombies, definitely wants the crown, what with its foray into joining destruction of the Undead with MMO gameplay.

On paper, I thought it was a novel concept. The only thing better than splattering zombies is being able to share in the fun with others. Making it mobile is the ultimate cherry on top. Thus, I was quite intrigued going into this review.

Showing that zombies are no discriminators, the first option for my character was to pick gender. I was also able to customize my game character down to mouth style (or you could randomize the face). I was tempted to go for Sisqo blonde, but resisted the urge. Next, I picked occupation for the choices of soldier, hunter and doctor, and then picked a name. Voila. Off to battle zombies.

The intro cutscene hinted at the horrors to be beheld. The music was appropriate, and the storyline useably brief as I made it to the tutorial and rendezvous with Kate. The graphics were quite unexpected. While some will take pause with the ungainly size when compared to background, there was a certain elegance to it. Control-wise, I made use of two thumbs: one to maneuver, and the other to attack the marauding zombies with whatever weapon (i.e saw, gun, etc) that was handy. I had the requisite damage meter, and dying zombies sometimes left valuable health packs, which I “picked” up by going over the health packs with my character.

The gameplay was what was to be expected: plenty of zombies to kill, based off of missions like defending a house. Getting through missions garnered me Experience Points. The game actively looked for members to join my team, and I could choose to be notified when teammates were online. I felt the MMO portion was probably the best aspect of the game.

The in-app purchasing functionality was well developed. I saw where I could buy accelerated accumulation of XP, or basics like food and weapons. There were also time-sensitive specials; other features, such as chat, in-game mail and global accomplishment tracking added to the allure of the game.

While the graphics did not put me off, I thought that they could be better. I also though this is the one time a real full tutorial would have helped to let players the goodness therein. All in all, though, this game deserves a look, and it will appeal to plenty of folks.